Cambridge games firm expects 500% profit bump

This is Planet Coaster, Frontier's latest foray into virtual theme parks. The company is suing Atari over alleged unpaid royalties on a previous title, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3

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Things continue to go rather well at video games firm Frontier Developments, where profit for the year is expected to rocket 500 per cent.

The Science Park company, which publishes titles Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster, has issued a trading update about the financial year to the end of May 2017, and says it expects to report profit of £7.2m, up 500 per cent on the 2016 figure.

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Says the statement: “Good trading performance has continued since the last trading update on April 19. The company expects to report revenue for the financial year of approximately £37.3m, slightly ahead of previous guidance and a 75 per cent increase over the prior year. Operating profit margin for 2017 is expected to be towards the top of the 15-20 per cent guidance range.”

Frontier's Elite Dangerous is coming to PlayStation 4

The success of theme park simulator Planet Coaster, which came out last November, has contributed to the company’s fine performance, while space trading epic Elite Dangerous continues to captivate players, and will soon be available on PlayStation 4The company now has £12.6m in the bank, which will come in handy when it kits out its new headquarters, currently under construction on the Science Park.

Frontier's new Science Park headquarters will eventually look something like this

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David Braben, Frontier CEO, said: "I am delighted with our progress in the last 12 months and would like to thank everyone for their continued creativity, hard work and dedication. We now have two strong franchises in the market and have successfully transitioned to a self-publishing business model, proving our ability to launch franchises.

"Our ambition now is to build on this success, continue to invest in our franchises and scale up to create a self-publishing multi-franchise success story. Our third franchise, which is based on an enduring Hollywood movie IP of global renown, is scheduled for release in calendar 2018, and we will provide more details about this exciting project later this year."

Frontier shares, which were worth £4.08 yesterday, jumped to £4.45 today after the news was announced.